Wire tying machines



1961 R. D. SANSUM 3,002,445

WIRE TYING MACHINES Filed Dec. 9, 1959 INVENT R ROBERT D. .SANSUM n ed S te Pa Q 3,002,445 WIRE TYING MACHINES Robert David Sansum, Hounslow, England, assignor to Gerrard Industries Limited, Brentford, England, and Rylauds Brothers Limited, Warrington, England Filed Dec. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 858,406

Claims priority, application Great Britain Oct. 23, 1959 3 Claims. (Cl. 100--4) This invention relates to improvements in machines for making wire ties about coils of material such as wire or rod.

In application Ser. No. 642,852, which issued as Patent No. 2,957,406, there is described a machine which has a work head which is moved vertically into the centre of a coil of material laid upon a table. The machine feeds out wire beneath the coil, the free end of the wire is wrapped about the material and is inserted in a gripper. The gripper is closed by operation of a manual lever; tension is applied to the tying wire and the gripper is rotated to form a twisted tie.

In such a machine the degree of tension applied to the tying wire is determined by the friction between a coil of material to be tied and a table upon which it lies. This is because the operation of tensioning rollers drags the coil over the table surface until it contacts an operating arm which causes cessation of the drive to the tensioning rollers and initiates action of twisting and severing means.

It has been found in practice that it is desirable to control the degree of tension applied to the tying wire much more accurately to obtain consistently efiective ties.

According to the invention I provide a machine as otherwise generally described in application Ser. No. 642,852, now Patent No. 2,957,406, wherein the whole operative mechanism is mounted in a carriage slidable across a framework which supports an annular turntable upon which a coil of material to be tied is laid and sliding movement of the carriage towards the coil caused by operation of wire tensioning means is resisted by an opposing load applied to the carriage.

It will be apparent that by adjusting the load applied to the carriage the degree of tension applied to the tying wire can be pre-set at a required degree.

It will also be apparent that in the improved machine the roles of the coil and the operative mechanism are reversed in so far as tension determination is concerned; for in the improved machine the coil remains stationary and the mechanism moves as a whole instead of vice versa.

The loading of the carriage carrying the operative mechanism of the machine is conveniently attained by means of a weight suspended from a cable which passes over a pulley, but a suitable spring or other resilient means could be employed for this purpose.

The above and other features of the invention are embodied in a preferred form of machine which will now be described as an example with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a perspective view.

The machine as a whole is mounted in a framework 1 which is enclosed by cover plates suchas 2 and by a control panel 3.

The control panel 3 and a foot switch 4 which control certain functions of the machine do not in themselves form any part of the present invention and are not further referred to.

The work-head 5 of the machine and the motors, gearing and so on by which the work-head is operated are all mounted upon a carriage 6 which is carried by rollers 7 engaging guide rails 8.

The work-head is shifted up and down relative to the carriage 6 within the inner circumference of an annular turntable 9,.

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The work-head includes a pair of rollers 10 by which tying wire is drawn from a stowage to be fed through an aperture 11 in a twisting block 12 which also includes a gripper 13.

Tying wire is fed out through the aperture 11 to pass through a slot 14 in the turntable 9 beneath a coil of material 15 lying upon that table. The free end of the tying wire is passed over the top of the coil of material and entered into the gripper 13.

Reversal of the drive to the rollers 10 causes the gripper 13 to grasp the free end of the tying wire and surplus Wire is drawn back through the aperture 11. When the slack in the tying wire has been taken up the rollers 10 continue to apply tension to the tying wire and move the carriage 6 towards the coil 15.

Movement of the carriage 6 is resisted by a weight 16 which is carried by a cable 17 passed over a pulley 18 and connected to the carriage.

The work head 6 carries an actuating lever 19 which, on contact with the inner circumference of the coil 15 stops the drive to the rollers 10 and puts in motion drive means for the twisting block 12 and wire-severing means (not shown).

By adjusting the value of the weight 16 the tension in the tying wire at the time when the twisting and cutting operation takes place can be adjusted to a desired value.

Where heavy coils of material are being tied they will not shift on the turn-table, but it may be desirable to apply some temporary stop or clamp to prevent a light coil of material from sliding over the surface of the turn-table towards the work-head if the frictional resistance is less than the desired tension.

On completion of a tie of wire about the coil the turntable 9 is indexed to bring another slot 14 into operative position and a further tie is made. When ties have been made at the locations of all the slots 14 (six as drawn), the head 5 is lowered for the last time and the coil 15 is off-loaded from the turn-table. Rollers 20 at the sides of the machine frame facilitate such off-loading.

I claim:

1. In a machine for tying wire about articles, a table for supporting an article, a workhead including a gripper to grip the wire, means carried in the workhead to feed out tying wire to be encircled about an article on the table to form a loop whereby the free end of wire may be gripped by said gripper, means to reverse said feed out means for tightening the loop of Wire about the article and for causing relative movement of the article toward said workhead, means for revolving the gripper to form a twisted tie, control means disposed forwardly of the gripper for stopping said reversing means and actuating said revolving means upon Contact with the article when the reversing means is tightening the loop, the improvement comprising: a carriage supporting said workhead and mounted for sliding movement in the direction of wire movement, whereby when said feed out means are reversed, the carriage and thus the workhead moves toward the article.

2. A machine for tying wire about articles, comprising a table for supporting an article, a workhead including a gripper to grip the wire, means carried in the workhead to feed out tying wire to be encircled about an article on the table to form a loop whereby the free end of wire may be gripped by said gripper, a carriage supporting said workhead and mounted for horizontal sliding movement in the direction of wire movement, means to reverse said feed out means for tightening the loop of wire about the article for relative movement of the workhead toward the article, means for revolving the gripper to form a twisted tie, control means disposed forwardly of the gripper for stopping said reversing means and actuating said revolving means upon contact with the article when the reversing means is tightening the loop and relatively moving the carriage and article closer together, and variable counterweight means connected to the carriage and urging it away from the article so that wire tension during reversal of the feed out means is equal to the lesser of the force required to move the article on the table toward the carriage and the force required to cause the carriage to slide toward the article.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Jones Apr. 6, 1954 Copland et al. Oct. 25, 1960 

